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The most recent trading session ended with Linde (LIN) standing at $443.18, reflecting a -0.15% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.02%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.4%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 2.03%.

Heading into today, shares of the gas supplier had lost 4.41% over the past month, lagging the Basic Materials sector's loss of 1.66% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.15% in that time.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Linde in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on May 2, 2024. On that day, Linde is projected to report earnings of $3.68 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 7.6%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $8.36 billion, up 2% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $15.58 per share and revenue of $34.47 billion, which would represent changes of +9.72% and +4.93%, respectively, from the prior year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Linde should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.01% higher. Linde presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

In terms of valuation, Linde is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 28.49. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.01, so one might conclude that Linde is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, LIN's PEG ratio is currently 2.9. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Chemical - Specialty industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.97.

The Chemical - Specialty industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 79, which puts it in the top 32% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.